Daily Chess Puzzle: best of 2017

To start 2018, I will on most days post positions, moves, or games that have given me pleasure during 2017. I will intersperse these with two further items: (i) problems from the 1972 book “Chess Combination as a Fine Art”, a book based on articles published in the 1950s-1960s by Kurt Richter; (ii) a pot pourri of puzzles taken from my years of newspaper clippings, printouts and other pieces of paper which I have collated over the years. I have piles of the latter, and made a new year’s resolution to go through them, clearing out those which no longer interest me. I hope to find some gems in these old papers.

I have decided to adopt the style of only saying which side is to play: and not giving an idea if the move wins or otherwise. Instead, the problems are posed with the instruction to decide what you would play, as in a game.

White to play

Duda v Ivanchuk, FIDE World Cup, Tbilisi, 8/9/17

Solution

1 Qh1+ Kd4 2 Qe4+!! Ke4 1/2

A lovely way to draw.

FEN

7Q/8/8/p7/P3k3/4b3/4K3/6q1 w – – 0 74